Security Officials Says Canada Capable of Spying on Brazil

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Canadian security officials and mining companies have expressed extreme skepticism on Monday, regarding claims of Canada having had spied on Brazil’s mining and energy department, even after Brazil’s president directly accused Canada of apparent industrial espionage. Canadian ambassador to Brazil was summoned by the country’s Foreign Minister, and asked to “transmit the indignation of the Brazilian government and demand explanations.”

According to the report published by a local Brazilian TV channel, metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the ministry were targeted by Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) to oversee the ministry’s communications. However, it was not clarified whether the emails were read or phone calls listened to. On the other hand, Canadian Prime Minister was attending an economic conference in Bali, Indonesia, where he commented on Tuesday that he is “very concerned” about the report and claimed that Canadian officials are “reaching out very proactively” to counterparts in Brazil.

Apart from that, former director general of counter-terrorism at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Ray Boisvert, mentioned in a statement issued on Monday that Canada lacks interest to have spied on Brazil’s mining sector even though it is completely capable to do so. Mr. Boisvert alleged that “like any crime drama, you look for capability and intent. Could CSEC do Brazil? Of course, it has significant capability to collect intelligence in the national interest. But on motive, you come up way short. If it was Iran, nobody would be surprised. But this is Brazil.”  He added that “I’m really short on motive.”